Bamboo With Skate Wheels

So after having very quick low batter issues with my Evolve Bamboo Series Two using the all terrain tires, I decided yesterday to put the orthodox wheels back onto the board and give it a test ride. I was fairly certain that the battery issues were caused more by the all terrain tires, and not because the battery was failing. But changing out the wheels was the only way I could really test and know for sure.

So I did. I switched out the wheels, and found that one of the regular old skate wheels was missing a bearing. You might know this if you subscribe to my Instagram account @maulakai. So after a quick run to the local skate shop, Free Ride, I had a new set of very cheap, made in China bearings, and I was able to complete the transformation.

The only thing left to do was take the board for a test run. You’ll remember that the apartment complex that I live in has many speed bumps. Too many, and most are unavoidable. I know that with the all terrain tires, I was able to ride over all of them without any trouble. But with the orthodox wheels, the question left unanswered was, could I still clear a speed bump?

The first few speed bumps, I hopped off and let the board roll over solo. It cleared. However, the speed bumps are not all uniform in their curve, as you might expect. Sure enough, there are a couple of bumps that scraped the bottom of the board.

Now in my specific case, this wasn’t much of an issue. The battery pack is on the bottom of the board. It used to be a nice, black plastic color. But now, it has a streak of yellow paint, thanks to those convex speed bumps.

However, it does raise a design issue, that I think is worth mentioning. Because Evolve Bamboo Series Two is a very hard board. It doesn’t flex when you stand or jump on it. I’m pretty sure I know why. Because the original Bamboo series had issues with the battery pack coming off, due to the flex in the board.

But this newer, inflexible design means that the battery pack is under the deck, and that actually makes it worse at going over obstacles, like speed bumps. It’s worth noting that my Boosted Board is extremely flexible, like a spring, and it can clear *all* of the speed bumps. But it clears them because the deck is curved, and it clears them because Boosted Boards have *nothing* on the underpart of the deck. Boosted positions their batteries on the ends of the board, closer to the wheels.

This is significant because, in just the right circumstances, the Evolve Board could risk puncturing the battery, if say a stupid rider went over a bad speed bump too carelessly.

Moving on, once I got past the speed bump part, I couldn’t help but notice what a zippy board those Evolves are. Even though there is but a single motor, it really has a lot of acceleration. Several times throughout my skate, I found myself getting scared that I was going too fast.

I’m used to my electric skateboard slowing down when I’m not using the motor. But the Evolve board really coasts like you might expect a conventional, motorless skateboard to. I had a blast riding it. I’m a little upset that I didn’t engage my gps tracking. But I was able to skate a very big circle around my neighborhood. Even then, the low battery light didn’t come on. In other words, the Bamboo Series Two really does have a great battery on it.

If there was an issue with my board, it was almost certainly due to the all terrain wheels. Maybe they didn’t have enough air in them, or maybe the idea of putting all terrain tires on a skateboard just isn’t as good as I thought it would be. Sure, on some surfaces, it’s the only way to fly. But honestly, you lose that nice, rolling feeling that has come to define skateboarding for me. And most of the time, you’re going to want to skate on a smooth surface anyway.

I was really tempted to take that Bamboo Series board to work today. But I didn’t. Why? It all comes back to that remote, and the way the board brakes, which also has to do with the single engine design. It’s a very fun, very fast board to ride. Next time I’m skating in an empty parking lot, it will easily be my first choice. But for my morning commute, I’m skating around cars. I’m skating around stop signs and cross walks. Which means stopping the board most certainly is an issue. And stopping with that remote really is a challenge.

The brake on my Bamboo series works. Don’t get me wrong, it works. But it doesn’t work nearly as well as my Boosted Board. It tends to either brake too little, or too much. And if you try to break too hard, you risk “clicking”. That’s where the drive belt clicks on the gear attached to the wheel. I know that clicking can be a sign that the belt is too tight. But it’s also a sign that you probably want two motors, with two drive belts, braking two wheels at the same time.

Bottom line, the Boosted Board is still the safer option, especially in an urban commute setting, mainly because of the way you can fine tune how your stops.

Still, I can’t wait to skate my Bamboo Series on a joy ride this weekend.